Financial assistance in college

soups05

Hi all
Not sure if this is better suited to state benefits or education forum but thought I would try here first.

I am currently in 3rd year of an IT course. During semester one we designed, with guidance from the lecturer, a computer system for operating a business.

Now we have to implement this system and present it for testing by end of April.
Today we were informed that the computers in the college cannot run this system and we need to purchase a laptop to build and demo it. The specs would need to be high end, 16 gb ram, top notch processor etc. It comes across more like a gaming machine for those who know computers.

Now we have been told we have to get this, but my view is that there is no way we should be forced to pay out €1,700 to pass a single module. It has been suggested that we approach various government departments with a view to obtaining funding for this.

While I admit I am currently on BTEA this attitude of going around with the hand out is really not something I can bring myself to do. The lecturer pointed out that it's like buying an expensive set of books if you were studying law, but to my mind you would at least know in advance you need those books, plus get 3 years out of them. This is a last min surprise for us.

For my part, I have no savings, no excess money to throw around and I am not prepared to go to the likes of provident for a loan. I really want to get two or three letters of refusal from government depts to show I tried and failed to buy this machine in the hope that I can appeal the lecturers decision.

Any advice would be welcome, who do I approach? How do I explain i want a refusal not a check? am I missing something here, is there a branch of social welfare who go around throwing new laptops to people in college? please tell me thats wrong.

username2013

It seems excessive to have to buy a 16gb machine for a college project. What kind of system is it that would need this? Will it actually be used? For presenting purposes surely a less high end machine would be fine no?

eeguy

username2013 wrote: »

It's seems excessive to have to buy a 16gb machine for a college project. What kind of system is it that would need this? Will it actually be used?

That makes no sense. You shouldn't need to spend that sort of money.

What's missing from their PCs that they can't run it? A decent processor only costs a few hundred.

soups05

thats what we thought. we need to run 6 servers, 2 gb each, with enough left over to operate on. Now we suggested that we run the main server (an AD one) and one one other, lets say an email one. after testing that we can run the AD and the File server, or AD and DNS etc.

or perhaps scale it back and run AD, DNS,DHCP off one and thus get rid of two extra servers.

apparently wwe need to run them as separate servers as that would be industry standard. we are already comprising on not have separate back ups servers.

(note, lecturer may be insane, not sure at this point lol)

Doylers

soups05 wrote: »

thats what we thought. we need to run 6 servers, 2 gb each, with enough left over to operate on. Now we suggested that we run the main server (an AD one) and one one other, lets say an email one. after testing that we can run the AD and the File server, or AD and DNS etc.

or perhaps scale it back and run AD, DNS,DHCP off one and thus get rid of two extra servers.

apparently wwe need to run them as separate servers as that would be industry standard. we are already comprising on not have separate back ups servers.

(note, lecturer may be insane, not sure at this point lol)

You're 2GB per "server" is a pretty high requirement. DNS/DHCP can all be run off the AD server or tiny linux instances if you must run them individually. If they want a true to life demo, sign up for AWS and get yourself some free EC2 instances and they'll do the job. Win AD is licensed and has higher minimum requirements so would cost money but like 20euro maybe for the time you will actually have it online for (totally guessed figure).
Also most colleges get AWS credit, I know mine did so i'd be asking around for that too.

username2013

soups05 wrote: »

thats what we thought. we need to run 6 servers, 2 gb each, with enough left over to operate on. Now we suggested that we run the main server (an AD one) and one one other, lets say an email one. after testing that we can run the AD and the File server, or AD and DNS etc.

or perhaps scale it back and run AD, DNS,DHCP off one and thus get rid of two extra servers.

apparently wwe need to run them as separate servers as that would be industry standard. we are already comprising on not have separate back ups servers.

(note, lecturer may be insane, not sure at this point lol)

Well, industry standard would certainly not be having 6 servers running on 1 machine! More than likely they would be on AWS and probably dockerized. I think what you proposed about scaling it back seems reasonable, I mean this is only going to be used for demo purposes rights? Also, has the lecturer specified what government bodies to approach for these loans? Knowing Ireland I'd say ya have very little chance of getting much, and to do you would probably need to go through reams of red tape, which would take months. All of which does not help you.

Has anyone else in your class expressed concerns? If I were you I would approach your lecturer and if that does not help, maybe look to take it to his superiors. That's probably not a route you want to take, but it sounds ridiculous to expect students mid-term to fork out that kid of money.

soups05

We have a xen server which we thought we would be using to create this setup in a virtual environment. But apparently it needs to be done on the laptop, to the specs required. ie 2gb per server. He seems to be going out of his way to make life difficult for us.

no chance of combining services onto a server, has to be separate servers for each, all running at once. We even considered going to the head of department to plead our case but it may backfire as it's not the HOD who marks us on our work. So we hope to prove it's not realistic to secure funding and then convince him to change the plans.

soups05

this was dropped on us today, we are all in shock and trying to figure out how to deal with it. none of us can afford to buy new gear.

DesperateDan

Just email the higher ups and tell them this is not on and needs to be sorted asap. College should provide the machines or put an end to the 'requirement' of something highly specced like that.

Joke of a lecturer should be put straight. When I went to college they made sure there were machines there at all times if we needed them, a laptop was most certainly not a requirement (although it helps), I did games development in DKIT and TCD which as you would expect requires high end tech.

soups05

That seems to be the only option Dan. May I ask how long ago you where in DkIT as that is where I am now.

Gatling

Don't see how this is a state benefits issue ,

Don't see you having an exceptionable needs assistance been it's a Laptop for a project ,
Your best bet would maybe a personal finance plan with a retailer ,

soups05

Gatling my thoughts where to get a refusal as it's not an exceptional need. The lecturer seems to think students have access to some magical money tree courtesy of the government. Hence why I thought to post here in a bid to disprove this.

Gatling

soups05 wrote: »

Gatling my thoughts where to get a refusal as it's not an exceptional need. The lecturer seems to think students have access to some magical money tree courtesy of the government. Hence why I thought to post here in a bid to disprove this.

You will need make an appointment to see your local cwo and see what they say ,
You would have thought you were told on day one of the course in year one you would need a mid to high end PC/laptop ,
Nothing suprises me my OH had to buy a new accountancy book €160 that was written by her dept head and only released ,and he couldn't allow it to be sold cheaper

DesperateDan

soups05 wrote: »

That seems to be the only option Dan. May I ask how long ago you where in DkIT as that is where I am now.

Finished in 2012 so a long time ago now Wasn't until our last year we got our hands on the Carroll building :pac:

cairdre

Hi I work in Student Services in a College. Your Lecturer is on a solo run here. I would immediately send an email to your Course Head outlining what you have Been told to buy and you live on State Benefits. Also email Head of Students Services and Mature Student Officer. If the College cannot give you access to equipment to complete the project then it is not assessable. Don’t fret he will be put back in his box.